Edge of Oblivion
by HeartQueenVivaldi
Summary: It was just a typical day in the Host Club. Lots of girls, lots of cake, and lots of pretty boys, but... The boss always did well at pressuring us to do our best, but this particular day he pushed just a little too hard, sending Hikaru and I over the edge of oblivion, causing us to rethink opening up our little world to others.
1. Chapter 1

Edge of Oblivion

Chapter 1

Kaoru POV

It all started that day, a day just like any other. It was a rather normal day for the Host Club, well, as normal as it can be for the Host Club; Honey-senpai gleefully munching on a piece of strawberry cake, Mori-senpai cleaning up after his cousin. Tamaki-senpai was attempting to put Haruhi into some ridiculous outfit and she was not going for it, saying, or more like yelling, her usual "no way" or "no way in hell, senpai!" Kyoya-senpai, as usual, spent the entire afternoon either typing who-knows-what into that computer or making notes in his mysterious black book.

As for Hikaru and I, we spent the afternoon wooing and attending to our usual slew of guests. We were quite popular in the Host Club. No one ever dared to say it, for fear of sending Tamaki-senpai into a dark depressed corner, but we were just as, if not more, popular than Tamaki-senpai. He always had to be number one, he was the king after all.

The boss always did well at pressuring us to do our best, but this particular day, he pushed just a little too hard, sending Hikaru and me tumbling over the edge of Oblivion.

This particular day was not my best of days. I had some trouble focusing in on our guests and the task at hand, earning myself an almost painful squeeze on the thigh from my dear brother every few minutes. He would smile at me while looking out of the corner of his eye, a reassuring smile that told me three things over and over again; (1) it's alright, (2) pay attention now, and (3) are you okay? I would simply smile back to let him know I was alright just to fall deep into my thoughts once again, starting the cycle over.  
The moment couldn't come soon enough when Kyoya-senpai would announce the end of the day, excusing all of the ladies, giving us the time to clean up and go home for the day. It felt like an eternity.

"Ru… Kaoru… KAORU!" Hikaru Shouted, pulling me once again out of my trance after the usual squeeze to the leg had failed. Embarrassed, I lowered my head, blushing at the floor to my right. From the left came a familiar, soft hand that was placed below my chin to bring my face up so he could see into my eyes. I tried my best to avoid eye contact with my brother by liking down or off to one side, but it was all in vain, and I knew that. Ive always known that. I never could hide anything from Hikaru. He got my attention when our noses touched, forcing me to look up into his burning, amber eyes. I didn't know he was so close. The moment our eyes licked I knew I wouldn't be able to hide anything. "Kaoru, you are very distracted today, what could possibly be so very distracting? What are you thinking so deeply about, little brother?" Hikaru asked with a teasing voice that he used often in front of our guests, but his eyes betrayed true concern and curiosity.

Hikaru was always the one to worry about me, He always felt the need to protect me due to the fact that he was the "older" of us. He is only older by a few minutes, but it still counts for us.

I could never lie to my twin, it would crush both of us, and we both knew it, so I answered "I'm distracted because I'm scared, Hika." As I said this I started to cry. Of course the guests all thought it was cute and had hearts popping out of their heads. Any of the other hosts would have shaken their heads, thinking it was all an act, but the reality is that it couldn't be more real.

A flash of true concern danced across Hikaru's eyes but keeping with our "brotherly love act" he simply said "don't be afraid. I will protect you from everything, always, Kaoru…" Pulling me a half an inch closer as he said it.

All I could manage as I stared into his molten orbs was "Hika…" and at that moment the blessed call came.

"That will be all for today, ladies. Thank you for coming, and enjoy the remainder of your evening." Kyoya-senpai called, earning a disappointed groan from the ladies in the room. From Hikaru and me came a sigh of relief, for both of us knowing we could drop the act and for me, I could finally let my thoughts foam free.

What I had told Hikaru was true, I was scared, but the only thing was, I didn't know why. I was just scared. I had this feeling that something bad was going to happen. My thoughts kept wandering to wonder about my own confusion on the matter. My mind was racing with thoughts of _why, when_ , and _how_ , which kept my mind busy all three hours of the Host Club.

Hikaru started ranting to me about some prank or another while we cleaned up the mess at our table. I tried to listen to what he was saying, his prank ideas were always good, but my heart just wasn't into it. Before I knew it my thoughts were racing once again, and I didn't even realize I had stopped working, just standing there, deep in thought. Before I knew it Hikaru had placed his hands on my shoulders and pulled me out of my abyss of thoughts with a light shake.

When I came to my senses I was looking into my brothers concerned eyes. He was worried about me. Just as I opened my mouth to speak I was interrupted by the Host Club king himself. Tamaki-senpai isn't just the king of the Host Club, he is the king of interruptions as well.

"Hikaru! Kaoru! What is wrong with you two today? First Kaoru won't attend to your guests, and now neither of you are working. We need to get this place cleaned up so that we can all go home!" Exclaimed Tamaki-senpai from half-way across the room, all the while wiping down one of his tables that had some leftover cake crumbs on it.

Hikaru stepped in immediately, obviously angry with the boss for his tactless comment towards the two of us. "Sorry, Boss, but can't you tell that my brother is upset? There is no need to be so mad at us! All of us have our off days, so give it a rest!"

"Don't be so angry about it, Hikaru! I was simply stating the facts." Tamaki said matter-of-factly, forgetting the table he was cleaning.

"Lay-off, Boss. You don't need to state every fact that comes into your puny little head." Hikaru retorted, still very upset about the original statement made by the king. "Why don't you must leave us alone?"

"No, I won't. You two are just being lazy today, and I won't stand for it!" It was at that moment that I realized why I was having these bad feelings that scared me so much. It dawned on me just what that bad thing was that was going to happen. I looked at Hikaru with a plea in my eyes that begged him to stop and just let it go, but he wasn't paying attention.

"Lazy? LAZY?! We are so far from lazy! We have always done everything exactly the way you have asked us to. We work all day long to please every girl in this school because they are all potential guests, and then, when that's over we drag ourselves up here to spend almost our entire afternoon serving tea and cakes, keeping up a constant appearance of your so-called 'brotherly love' act, and then, on top of that, we clean this room to the nines, every day! We are far from lazy!" at this point I shot a desperate glance to Kyoya-senpai, but he was watching Tamaki-senpai for a reaction, and as I glanced at the others. They were all doing the same. One thing I noticed in common with everyone was that they all seemed to agree with Tamaki-senpai. It was so plain on each of their faces. Kyoya-senpai and Mori-senpai being the only exceptions, seeing as how neither of them ever showed much emotion, or ever betrayed their thoughts with facial expressions. So I joined them in waiting for Tamaki-senpai's reaction.

When his response came after a thick, tense moment, he had venom in his voice "You are so selfish, Hikaru! You never think of anyone but yourself! Why can't you just pull your head out of your ass and think about somebody else for once!"

I snapped, stepping in front of Hikaru and yelling back with as much emotion and venom on my tongue as I could muster "Don't you dare call my brother selfish! Today he has thought of nothing but this club and its guests, and has been concerned about me. Not one thought has been for himself today! If anyone is being selfish between the two of us it's me!" At this point Hikaru put a hand on my shoulder to turn me around and when I did I saw tears brimming in the corners of his eyes, and they told me that he was upset about Tamaki-senpai's comment about him being selfish. I thought ' _Hikaru, my Hikaru is crying. He isn't supposed to be the one crying. He's the strong one, I'm the weak one that cries Tamaki-senpai will pay for what he has done, for making Hikaru cry.'_

When I turned back around I saw three sets of eyes glaring at me for yelling at the king, not including Kyoya-senpai and Mori-senpai. I officially lost all of my senses. "This is ridiculous! You all agree with that monster! He has insulted both of us, and you re all going to take his side in this?" I paused for a moment to see if anyone would respond. When I received only blank stares, I turned back to Hikaru, who now had tears flowing freely down his cheeks, still shocked after Tamaki-senpai's comment to pull his head out of his ass. I took his hand in mine and pulled him towards the door and we left, but not before I turned around and said quietly "So this is what happens when you unlock your heart and let others into your world. They take your heart and break it into a million pieces. We should never have let any of you into our lives."

After slamming the door behind us we made our way to the front of the school where our driver awaited us with our usual black limo. He opened the door to let us in, closing it behind us. When he got into the driver's seat I quickly ordered him to take us home and closed the privacy screen. I crawled across the way to sit with my weeping brother. I told Hikaru everything I had felt that day, he told me how those comments affected him, and we held each other the whole way home, comforting each other, and drying each other's tears.

This is what I was afraid of: heartbreak. The slow and painful decent back into the lonely, locked-up world we once found so much comfort in. This is the day that began that decent.

Back at the host club after the twins' exit

Kyoya POV

"Can you even begin to comprehend what you have just done?" I asked Tamaki pointedly. I received a silent gaze in return. It was almost as if he were silently telling me that he truly had no idea what he had done or what was so wrong. I sighed, pushing up my glasses more out of habit than actual need. "Tamaki, your tactless comment is going to begin a vicious cycle for the twins. As of today they will no longer have a sense of trust, or know what true friendship is. As of today we will have to start from the beginning with those two, only this time, it's going to be much harder."

"What do you mean by that Kyoya-senpai?" Haruhi asked me, confused.

"Haruhi, before the twins became a part of the Host Club they had no friends, and those who attempted to be their friends were shut down. Quite simply, the twins were cruel to everyone but themselves. Tamaki was able to win their trust and confidence, and they joined the Host Club where we became their first true friends. That same Tamaki, with one tactless comment, ruined it all. All of that hard work, gone to waste. When they come to class tomorrow, you won't know them, Haruhi. They will have regressed back into their old selves. We may never again be able to pull them from their shell, or much less be invited back into their world." I explained all of this as calmly as I could considering the situation, but I couldn't keep all of the frustration out of my voice.

Tamaki looked at me with sad eyes, but I wasn't going for it "Tamaki, this is all your fault and you will _not_ be earning any sympathy from me. So don't give me those puppy dog eyes." He looked away sadly. "Let's all go home and get some rest, I will see you all tomorrow."

With that we all left, the room only half clean, but we could always finish cleaning before the guests arrived the next day. I suggested that we all get some rest, but I knew deep down that none of us would actually rest, we would all be worried about the twins. It was going to be a long night…

Mori POV

I still don't know how a day so ordinary could turn into one so intriguing. Sad, yes, but still intriguing. As per usual I was sitting with my cousin, Mitskuni, cleaning up after his mess he make with his strawberry. He is a master at two specific things: martial arts and making a mess all over his face while eating a piece of cake with gusto. As always he had icing all the way down his chin and coating his cheeks. I was in the process of wiping his face after our guests had left when some yelling across the room caught our attention. "Don't be so angry about it, Hikaru! I was simply stating the facts." The argument seemed to already be pretty heated, and I had no possible idea what had happened or what they could be fighting over that could upset Tamaki so much, but it caught my attention.

"Lay-off, Boss. You don't need to state every fact that comes into your puny little head. Why don't you just leave us alone?"

Now it was Tamaki's turn again, and I was still very confused. I looked at Mitskuni to see if he know what happened, but he looked just as confused as I felt, so I looked to the others. The only ones who looked like they weren't completely confused were the two boys yelling at each other, a twin who looked like he was going to burst into tears at any moment, and Kyoya, who was too far away to ask, and I didn't dare interrupt. All cleaning throughout the room forgotten, everyone was listening.

"No, I won't. You two are just being lazy today, and I won't stand for it!" I watched as Kaoru looked to his brother desperately, and I wondered what was going through his head, but the elder of the two didn't notice the look.

"Lazy? LAZY?! We are so far from lazy! We have always done everything exactly the way you have asked us to. We work all day long to please every girl in this school because they are all potential guests, and then, when that's over we drag ourselves up here to spend almost our entire afternoon serving tea and cakes, keeping up a constant appearance of your so-called 'brotherly love' act, and then, on top of that, we clean this room to the nines, every day! We are far from lazy!"

I continued to watch Tamaki straight on, but I noticed Kaoru looking to each of us as if asking for help, but I just kept a straight face. I wanted to stay impartial, and not take sides until I knew exactly how this all started. I could tell Mitskuni did not have the same idea that I did. He was, along with everyone else but Kyoya, siding with Tamaki.

After a very tense, silent moment Tamaki finally answered venomously "You are so selfish, Hikaru! You never think of anyone but yourself! Why can't you just pull your head out of your ass and think about somebody else for once!" Hikaru looked like he was about to cry now and Kaoru lost it. Something inside of him snapped and he took Hikaru's place, pulling his brother behind him, almost as if he were protecting him from a physical blow.

"Don't you dare call my brother selfish! Today he has thought of nothing but this club and its guests, and has been concerned about me. Not one thought has been for himself today! If anyone is being selfish between the two of us it's me!"

Hikaru, nearly in tears, put a hand on Kaoru's shoulder, turning him around. I could see Kaoru's thoughts racing as he saw the rears in his brother's eyes, and when he turned back around he had come unhinged, seeing the looks on everyone's faces, except Kyoya and me. We were both trying to stay neutral in this. "This is ridiculous! You all agree with that monster! He has insulted both of us, and you re all going to take his side in this?"

He was silent for a moment, and by the time he turned back around Hikaru had tears streaming down his face. He took the elder's hand and they went to the door. Just before they left Kaoru turned back and said, barely audible, but clearly enough, "So this is what happens when you unlock your heart and let others into your world. They take your heart and break it into a million pieces. We should never have let any of you into our lives." With that they left, hand in hand, slamming the door behind them.

The last thing Kaoru said left us all in shock, completely speechless. I looked to Mitskuni to find him on the brink of tears, and began to tend to him, half-way tuning out Kyoya's rant to Tamaki and Haruhi about how they would not be the same ever again. He was half-way right, I guess, but knowing the twins, I truly felt that they would be back the next day, offended and angry, but they would give it another shot, but if we all didn't watch our footing on this precarious ledge, they truly would be lost.


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry about this chapter guys, I don't know what happened the first time I posted it, so I took it down and I fixed it. I hope it works this time... as always, thanks for all of the reviews, favorites, and follows!**

Chapter 2

Kaoru POV

That night wasn't an easy one. Hikaru and I tried to do homework, but neither of us could focus very well, so eventually we just gave up. At least none of it was due the next day. Dinner with our parents was quiet and rather awkward. I could tell that our mother know something was wrong, but chose not to even ask for fear of sending us running. They were scheduled to leave on a business trip to France in the morning, and they weren't expected to return for three months, so our mother had reason to not want to upset us, using the last of our time together to the fullest, even if it was a little awkward.

When dinner had ended our parents said their goodbyes and went to finish packing and retire to bed. This left my brother and I to our own little world once again.

We climbed the stairs to our room quietly, and the silence continued down the hall until we turned into our room and closed the door. Only then was the long, torturous silence that had existed between us for the majority of our evening finally broken by Hikaru once again crying, tears flowing freely down his cheeks, dripping off his chin, sobs wracking his body. I walked up to my usually calm older brother and guided him to our shared king-size bed where I held him, tears flowing down my face as well, until he finally calmed down enough to speak.

"I thought we could trust them..." He said, barely audible. He was still half-way crying, so his voice was raspy and he had to speak between deep breaths as he cradled his head on my shoulder.

"Me too, Hika, me too." This small exchange sent both of us spiraling back into a fit of sobs, tears, and tight hugs, making both of our shirts wet from the large drops of salty tears that came like rivers from our eyes.

This continued on for and hour and a half until we couldn't cry anymore. Then began our true conversation. "What do you think we should do, Hika?"

"I don't know, Kao. I never expected a friend to hurt us like that."

"I don't think he meant to though, did he? The boss has always been rather blunt and harsh without really know it, right?"

"True, but he still crossed the line and insulted the both of us..."

We both sat in silence for a moment, contemplating the touchy situation. I knew he was thinking the same thing I was: that it would be hard for us to live without the other members of the Host Club. We had become very close to them, but Tamaki-senpai had crossed the line, and neither of us wanted to ever speak to him, or even acknowledge his existence ever again.

Resolve came to both of us at the same time, and we gave each other a meaningful look. Hikaru started us on our back and forth statement. "We will go back to the Host club tomorrow,"

"But we won't talk to Tamaki-senpai."

"We can't trust him."

"He broke our hearts."

"But the others can be forgiven."

"They never said a word."

"For all we know..."

"...They could have been confused."

"One more day..."

"One more chance..."

"We will just have to see what happens..." we finished together in perfect unison.

No matter what would happen the next day at the Host Club, we would always have each other. I wasn't scared knowing that. I would always have my Hikaru.

Having found our resolve we changed quickly, as it was starting to get late, made our way back to the bed where we curled up against each other and slept, or at least tried to sleep.

Our night was spent mostly awake due to the nightmares that danced before our eyes every time they closed. I woke up many times in the night, screaming, but never being able to remember them when asked by my other half who continuously comforted me throughout the night.

Morning couldn't come soon enough for me. Hikaru fell asleep and I just gave up on sleeping around 2:30 am. I listened to the sound of my brother's deep, even breaths as I contemplated the coming day and thought back on the day before at the Host Club. The deeper I thought the more confusing it all became. I was thinking about Kyoya-senpai and Mori-senpai's neutrality and how neither of them seemed to take a side, and how Hani-senpai and Haruhi seemingly so willingly took Tamaki's side. My theories on why eventually gave me a headache, so I gave up on thinking about it. It wasn't going to help anyways.

The rest of my sleepless night was uneventful, and finally the alarm sounded telling us it was time for school. Immediately I turned it off and rolled onto my other side expecting to have to wake up Hikaru from a deep slumber as usual, but when I turned I was looking at my mirror image, his eyes wide open, already awake and alert, startling me. "Hikaru! You're awake!"

"Yes, I am. I have been for almost two hours, watching you and waiting for the alarm, just like you." This rather surprised me. I hadn't noticed he was awake for that long.

"So, you didn't sleep well either?"

"No, how can I when you are over there tossing and turning?"

"Well, why didn't you say something?" I retorted, giving him a pouty face.

"I wanted to see how long it would take you to notice." Smirking, he gave me a look that basically said "I win".

"Whatever. Let's get going. We have a big day today." So we went about our morning routine, only speaking when necessary.

When we were finally ready for school we made our way to the dining room where our breakfast awaited us. it was simple, just a couple pieces of French Toast with some strawberries and a glass of milk. Upon finishing breakfast, which neither of us ate very much of out of sheer nervousness, we made our way to the limo out front.

The ride to school was spent in silence, and when the car pulled up in front of the school Haruhi, our usual greeter, wasn't there, confirming my suspicions that even if we did still get along with Haruhi it would be awkward at first.

Upon entering the classroom we looked around for the cross-dressing girl and found her sitting in the window sill across the room. she didn't look like she was in the mood to talk, so we sat next to each other in the back corner of the room. Throughout classes that day I kept looking to Haruhi to see if she would notice, but she never did.

At the end of the day we gathered all of our books, packed up, and made our way to the third floor music room where we would meet our fate and lose the foothold that kept us from falling the rest of the way off the edge. Had I known what would happen, neither of us would have gone that day.

The moment the doors opened and Hikaru and I walked in the room everyone looked at us. almost everyone's jaws dropped, amazed we came back, even Kyoya-senpai looked surprised at our return. The only one who didn't was Mori-senpai, who gave Honey-senpai a look that said "I told you so." I wondered how he knew. Tamaki-senpai and Haruhi just looked like they would pass out from the unexpected entrance.

Ignoring the looks we got from everyone we just went to the table and started cleaning where we left off the day before. There wasn't much left so it didn't take long to finish. When we had finished up I looked at Hikaru, but he wasn't paying attention, he wasn't even facing the right way. In fact, he was watching the boss and Haruhi, who had their heads close together, whispering about something.

Haruhi turned her head slightly and looked at Hikaru and I, when she did she told Tamaki-senpai to stop, and I could tell she said something like "They're watching us." Once she had said that they both

stood upright and Haruhi gave us a small smile that was very obviously fake. I had a hard time wrapping my head around it. I wanted to know what they had to say that they couldn't say in front of us and why they had to stop when we were looking at them, so I decided to ask.

As I spoke Hikaru spoke with me. It wasn't planned or thought out, our thought processes just went the same direction naturally, so it really didn't surprise me all that much. What's so important that you have to whisper it boss? Then why did you stop when we looked at you?"

I was the one who started our back-and-forth conversational piece this time. "Is it about us?"

"Did we step on your toes somehow..."

"…Just by walking in the room?"

We stood there waiting for some kind of response, but the boss and Haruhi just stood across the room staring us down. After a while it was rather apparent that they weren't going to answer so I turned to Hikaru and said "C'mon, Hika, they aren't worth it."

It made me sad to see that we had lost two of our good friends, but if they weren't going to make an effort to try and meet us half-way then there was no use trying on our end either.

I turned, grabbing Hikaru's hand, pulling him with me, but I was stopped soon after by Kyoya-senpai stepping out in front of us.

"Tamaki and Haruhi are good people and they are worth it. It's your fault that you offended Tamaki in the first place." The shadow king looked almost murderous as he said this, upset that I said his best friend wasn't worth it.

"He started it! Both times! Yesterday he told us that there was something wrong with us, now today He and Haruhi were talking about us behind our backs. It was plainly obvious! He probably thought we wouldn't notice, but we did, didn't we, Kao?" Hikaru retorted angrily. I sighed sadly, knowing that we may not recover from today, that it was only going to get worse from there, especially now that Kyoya-senpai was involved, and he had officially taken a side.

Apparently Hikaru actually expected an answer from me, so when I didn't answer he turned around "Kao?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah... we did notice, and didn't like it." I responded the best I could after being pulled out of my thoughts.

Kyoya-senpai just stood there looking dumbfounded so we made our way around him and went to be with the only two members of the Host Club that had yet to say something to offend us: Hani-senpai and Mori-senpai.

Kyoya POV

As expected, I did not sleep that night... at all. I laid in bed, trying not to think and let sleep take over, but every time a thought would creep in and my mind would race. I didn't know Tamaki could possible be dumb enough to say something like that to anyone, especially the insecure twins. it doesn't matter who it is, or what they have done, there is no real reason to tell a friend to pull their head out of their ass, but at the same time Hikaru did kind of ask for it.

That's how it went all night long, so the next day it had put me in a really bad mood. Everything around me had me on edge. I snapped at anyone who talked to me, and I could tell Tamaki had the same problem. I had never seen him so irritable before.

Even Tamaki was somewhat reluctant to go to the Host Club that day, but we both went nonetheless. When the door opened and all of the members were there minus two red-headed twins I turned around thinking I would have to tell some of the ladies to come back in fifteen minutes when the club opened, but instead I was astounded, and so was everyone else, except Mori-senpai, and I couldn't figure out why he wasn't, or how he guessed at it. None of us expected the twins' return to the Host Club, but they came back, and it brightened my mood for a split second, until Kaoru said that Tamaki wasn't worth it.

I was already pissed off from a long night of no sleep, so when he said that to my best friend, I lost it. I stepped out in front of them and let them have it. I took out my frustration on them. "Tamaki and Haruhi are good people, and they are worth it. It's your fault you offended him in the first place." I said that with as much force to it as possible, and I immediately regretted it.

"He started it! Both times! Yesterday he told us that there was something wrong with us, now today he and Haruhi were talking about us behind our backs. It was plainly obvious! He probably thought we wouldn't notice, but we did, didn't we, Kao?" I looked to Kaoru to see his response, biting back my own, and found him lost in thought, but Hikaru pulled him right back out. "Kao?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah… we did notice, and we didn't like it." It was a pretty good response for having just been pulled from deep thought. I was very angry with myself for saying anything in the first place, after I had been trying so hard to remain somewhat neutral, but there was nothing to be done about it at this point, so I bit my tongue and tried, by doing so, to minimize the damage.

They made their way past me to, I knew, go be in the company of the only two members of the club that they felt like they could trust, for now…

Mori POV

Mitskuni and I decided to stay together that night at my house, because our parents were gone for a couple weeks teaching martial arts to a military group in America, so instead of going separate ways

after school and the Host Club activities a car came to pick-up both of us and we went home. Dinner was already set for us in the dining room, and we had a very interesting conversation. I may not say much anywhere else, but with Mitskuni I actually talk quite a lot. I'm comfortable around him.

"Do you think Hika-chan and Kao-chan are going to be alright, Takashi?" Mitskuni looked at me with big, hopeful eyes as he put some food in his mouth.

"They will be back tomorrow." I stated simply.

"What makes you say that?"

"The twins have become attached to us and they won't give up on the entire club just because Tamaki is an idiot. I don't think they will even give Tamaki the time of day, but they will give the rest of us one more shot." I gave my honest opinion on the matter, but my short cousin didn't quite look like he believed it, or me for that matter. Shrugging, he started us in on another conversation as we waited for his favorite course: dessert, and much to his liking it was chocolate cake: his two favorite things all in one.

The rest of our night and the next morning were rather uneventful as we worked on our homework, slept, went about our morning routines, and went to school. All activities normal until the part of the day Mitskuni and I always looked forward to: the Host Club. That day was especially exciting, because we would find out if my theory was correct.

Mitskuni and I spent the first few minutes cleaning where we left off the day before. The twins weren't there yet, and I was starting to doubt myself. Even Mitskuni kept looking at me to taunt me, silently telling me I was wrong, until the door opened. It was still too early for it to be some of the ladies, so I turned to the door expectantly. When two orange-haired twins walked through the door I watched as everyone's jaws dropped as I, unsurprised, turned to my short, blonde, cake-loving cousin with a look that basically said it all. He glared right back.

As the twins started going about doing their chores, Mitskuni and I returned to our duties, and finished quite quickly. We took our seats at a table to await our guests that would be arriving any minute now.

Quite interested, we watched the few small exchanges between the other five members of our little, though very popular, Host Club. I looked down for only a short amount of time, and when I looked back up the twins were taking a seat across from us at the table.

 **Yes, yes I did. stay tuned! The next chapter will be up, hopefully, very soon (If I can get past this stupid writers block) and the next chapter is also really long, so prepare yourselves. Don't forget to Read, review, follow, and favorite. Thanks Everyone! -HeartQueenVivaldi**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everyone! Thanks for all of the Follows and Favorites! I really hope this chapter works out better than the last one. It had some serious issues… anyways, this chapter is really long, so buckle up and enjoy the ride!**

Chapter 3

Kaoru POV

As my brother and I sat across from Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai the feeling from the day before came back. All of that fear, anger, and sorrow came like a flood, tearing through my heart, letting my stomach flip and drop to the floor. I could feel my face pale as I looked at Hikaru to warn him, but it was already too late. He was talking to Honey-senpai. "I can't believe them…"

Honey-senpai looked at us back and forth before responding. "I don't think Tama-chan really meant what he said yesterday. He isn't exactly smart when it come to criticism." Mori-senpai nodded in agreement. "and Kyo-chan is just in a bad mood. He's been mean to everyone today. I think you two are over-reacting a bit, and I think you two should apologize. Everyone is in the wrong here. You could go foursies on this cake!" He exclaimed excitedly, holding up a great, big, lemon cake. He looked like he was going to continue, but Mori-senpai stopped him, and started talking.

I could feel Hikaru's rage building next to me as I watched everything unfold around me, my worst nightmare (that could be physically possible) coming true. I looked to Mori-senpai to give him a warning look, but he was focused in on Hikaru, irritating me to no end that no one ever seemed to pay attention to me when it was important, just adding to the stress of not being able to sleep the night before, being angry with the entire Host Club, and crying… a lot… the day before. I felt like I was going to burst, my own rage building with Hikaru's, but for a different reason. One wrong move, and we would both be lost in our anger, and I could see that Mori-senpai knew that as he spoke, speaking slowly and carefully so as to not step on a landmine in the process, but naturally, it was in vain.

"Mitskuni has a point, you two have slightly over-reacted, but so has Tamaki. I think it would be in everyone's best interest for someone in this room to be the better person and apologize. You are all in the wrong."

All restraint gone, we both exploded in perfect synchronization: "OVER-REACTED! No way!"

He told Hikaru to pull his head out of his ass!" I was officially furious, and the memory of what happened the day before wasn't helping anything.

"He called us lazy!" Hikaru chided.

"Haruhi took his side…"

"...and she probably didn't even know the whole story when she did!"

"Kyoya-senpai just told us it was our fault…"

"...that _we_ offended _him_."

"He's the one who offended _us_ …"

"...and you expect us to APOLOGIZE! None of this is our fault! We shouldn't have to ask forgiveness for something we didn't do!" As we went back and forth, yelling at the two boys across from us, Honey-senpai and even Mori-senpai were sinking back into their chairs, looking like they might pee their pants out of fright.

Mori-senpai tried to continue, but failed almost immediately. "I wasn't saying that it was your fault that any of this happened, I don't even completely know _what_ happened, but…"

"Then why are you still talking?!" Hikaru interrupted Mori-senpai with force, standing up as he spoke, tipping his chair over backwards as he did.

"Because I know that…"

"You just said you _don't_ know!" This time I was the one to knock my chair over as I spoke.

"I don't know what happened, but I know what needs to be happen now. You are all acting like three-year-olds fighting over a stupid toy or something. Continuing this fight isn't going to do any of you any good." Mori-senpai spoke with more emotion than I had ever heard from him, and even Honey-senpai looked at Mori-senpai like he didn't quite know what to think of it.

If Hikaru was already furious then I don't even know what he was at this point. His rage was out of control. With one swift movement he had reached up under the edge of the table and had thrown it towards the two startled boys in front of us, spilling the cakes and tea, breaking the precious, expensive China it had been in. Mori-senpai didn't react in time, but Honey-senpai stepped out in front of him, and blocked the flying table. As he hit it, it broke, sending splinters flying everywhere. One in particular came our way and sank into Hikaru's forearm with the force our senpai had used to protect himself and his astounded cousin from the unexpected table assault.

Hikaru let out a cry as his arm began to bleed profusely. I acted quickly, removing my blazer and wrapping it around his arm. As I applied pressure to my make-shift bandage, avoiding the large piece of wood lodged into his arm, I turned to the short, blonde boy and began to yell at him. "Look at what you have done! Hikaru is hurt because of you!"

"But…" Honey-senpai tried to cut in, but I wasn't having any more of this.

"No, we are through here. You are all horrible people, and my brother and I don't want anything to do with any of you ever again!" We turned to leave, and not only were the other members of the Host Club there, but so were quite a few guests. They all had a look of astonishment on their faces, and not a sound was heard for a few moments, until I wrapped an arm around my older twin's shoulder, grabbing his injured arm and applying pressure, and lead us to the door.

I was about to open the door when it seemingly opened of its own accord, and because the doors open inward it hit me right in the face. As I held a hand to my forehead while keeping the other around Hikaru's shoulders, another guest came in, one of our regulars, and started to apologize. Due to the state of mind my brother and I were in I was suddenly furious again, thinking the whole world was against us, so when she asked if we were coming back and if she could request us I found myself yelling at her. "No, we are not coming back, so no, you cannot request us. We are done being hosts, done having friends, and definitely done entertaining anybody, especially shallow, frivolous, scatter-brained girls!" With that being said I pushed the traumatized girl to the side and we left, leaving the door wide open.

On our way out to the front of the school Hikaru called our driver to come pick us up, and we sat on the stairs just outside, and I finally had a chance to look at his injured arm.

"Let me see it, Hika…" Wordlessly he held out his injured left arm. I sat on his left, and I removed my now blood-soaked, used-to-be-blue blazer that would have to be replaced before the next school day, ripped his blazer that was also soaked in blood up to his elbow, and ripping his white button-up shirt with it. I could the clearly see the small piece of wood lodged into his skin between his wrist and elbow on the underside of his arm. It could have been worse. The bleeding had already mostly stopped for now, and it wasn't too deep. I had learned some first-aid and knew what to do with it and how to seal the wound closed once the wood was removed. I didn't dare suggest we go to the hospital: Hikaru hated doctors, and so did I, for that matter. I could take care of it, unless it became infected somehow.

As I was thinking through all of this I hadn't been paying attention to Hikaru's emotions, and it startled me when he spoke softly "Kao… ru…" my head snapped up to look at my brother, and my heart broke for the ump-teenth time in the last few days to see my normally strong, and composed older brother in tears once again. "It hurts, Kaoru…"

"What hurts, Hika?"

"My arm, my stomach, everything… it all hurts, Kao. Please make it stop." He leaned into me and I cradled his head on my chest, keeping his arm from touching anything and sending a jolt of pain through him, and I let him cry into my shirt, soaking it. I didn't think I could cry anymore, so I was a little surprised when I felt tears running down my own cheeks and dripping into my brother's orange hair.

"I know it hurts, Hika, but we can get through it." Just as I said this our driver pulled in. I re-wrapped Hikaru's arm with my already bloody blazer, and I helped him into the car. The ride home was quiet due to the fact that our driver, despite the privacy screen, could hear every word we said, and this particular driver was really good at gossiping to other servants around the house.

When we arrived home we requested that our dinner be brought to our room, and we ascended the stairs. As we would periodically pass a maid or a butler they would eye the blazer wrapped around Hikaru's arm, but knew better than to ask, because of our old habit of blowing up at people when we were upset. An old habit that was reborn, thanks to Tamaki-senpai, the same Tamaki-senpai that pulled us away from that habit two years earlier.

For some reason I was still guiding Hikaru. Probably because if I didn't he would slow down, or just stop walking altogether. When the door closed to our room I lead him to our shared bathroom and, making him sit on the lid to the toilet, I took out the first-aid kit from the top of the closet, and started tending to his arm while we spoke.

"Hika?" I asked my brother tentatively, trying to get some kind of reaction from him. At this point he had stopped reacting to everything. He simply stared straight ahead of him with a blank expression on his face. He didn't even flinch when I pulled the piece of table from his arm and it started bleeding, or when I poured alcohol onto it. "Hikaru… I… don't… I don't know what to say… or do."

"Then don't say anything." I looked up from the bleeding gash to look at Hikaru's face as he continued to talk quietly with minimal emotion attached to his voice. "Isn't that how we did it before? Didn't we tell people off when they hurt us then let it pass at home so that we could enjoy our time without other people around? Why worry about it when the problem isn't in front of our faces?"

In that moment I finally understood his long-held silence. He was recalling how we used to react to things. He was right, of course. That was how we used to handle things, and it worked, too. I thought that might be the best way to handle our current situation, so I agreed and we moved on to talk idly about other things: our assignments due the next day, our parents' trip, and whether or not they were enjoying their time in France, how much we would have loved to go, new design ideas, and other rather small and unimportant topics. We talked until I had stopped the bleeding on his arm and wrapped it with a real bandage, and we made our way to the small table in our room where our dinner was already laid out for us.

We ate our meal in silence and moved across the room to our desks and began our homework. Our French homework was due the next day, and our Chemistry homework was a large assignment that was due at the beginning of the next week, so we set to work, helping each other when needed. Hikaru was never very good at French, and I was horrible with Chemistry, so we balanced each other our on those subjects. "How does this work?" Hikaru asked me suddenly, making me jump after our long, silent moment.

"It's easy, see…?" I leaned over to his desk and showed him how to conjugate the verb he was working on, and explained it all to him, and he just gave me a puzzled look. Then the click in his head was almost audible as it suddenly made sense.

"That makes sense! Thanks, Kao!" He smiled at me and returned to work, as I continued with my own assignments. I could tell his smile was forced. He was a very good actor, but he couldn't act for me and succeed. I would always know the truth.

Upon finishing our French Homework, and deciding to leave the last of the Chemistry for another day, I pointed out his fake smile. "Hikaru, you don't have to pretend for me. If you are happy then be happy, if you are sad then be sad. Your acting skills may work on others, but it won't work with me… you know that…"

"I know, I guess it's become a habit to just act through it all…"

"Yeah, but we're done with that. Let's just be ourselves."

"Yeah, ok."

With that being said we showered, dressed, and went to bed, curled up facing each other, and slept peacefully.

Kyoya POV

Talking to Honey and Mori-senpai didn't last very long. Before long I hear yelling, and it was two perfectly in-sync, furious twins. "OVER-REACTED! No way!"

"He told Hikaru to pull his head out of his ass!" Kaoru was furiously defending his brother as he spat at Mori-senpai and Honey-senpai, who were both starting to do something I had never seen either of them do: cower in fear. Their faces began to show true fear for the angry, identical twins sitting across from them at the table, as they went back and forth, yelling at our senpais.

"He called us lazy!"

"Haruhi took his side…"

"...and she probably didn't even know the whole story when she did!"

"Kyoya-senpai just told us it was our fault…"

"...that _we_ offended _him_."

"He's the one who offended _us_ …"

"...and you expect us to APOLOGIZE! None of this is our fault! We shouldn't have to ask forgiveness for something we didn't do!" They finished, as usual, in unison.

Mori-senpai tried to bring the conversation back down to a normal level as two ladies entered the room and walked towards the rest of us, completely shocked. He didn't talk long before Hikaru cut him off. "I wasn't saying that it was your fault that any of this happened. I don't even completely know _what_ happened, but…"

"Then why are you still talking?" Hikaru stood abruptly, knocking his chair over, and, if it was even possible, making the two oldest boys sink even farther into their chairs.

"Because I know that…" Mori-senpai spoke quietly, and timidly.

"You just said you don't know!" Now both of the twins' chairs had been knocked over, and both twins were standing, leaning on their hands over the table.

I had never heard Mori-senpai speak with emotion attached to his voice before, and it thoroughly surprised me when he did, along with everyone else in the room, including Honey-senpai. " I may not know what happened, but I know what needs to happen now. You are all acting like three-year-olds fighting over a stupid toy or something. Continuing this fight isn't going to do any of you any good."

More guests had started filtering in during this time, and were all standing around watching the whole thing pan out. Many of them squealed as Hikaru reached under the table, Kaoru removing his hands and standing up straight, and it went flying towards the two Martial artists. It all happened so fast it was a blur as Honey-senpai blocked the table forcefully, protecting his astounded, taller cousin, and breaking it in half. I didn't even realize Hikaru had been hurt until he let out a blood-curdling cry and Kaoru was wrapping his arm with his Ouran-blue blazer.

Before any of us could completely process what had just occurred Kaoru was yelling at the short, blonde martial artist. "Look at what you have done! Hikaru is hurt because of you!"

Honey-senpai, obviously trying to defend himself, tried to speak, but failed immediately. "But…"

Kaoru wasn't having any of it. There was nothing any of us could have said at this point to bring them back to our level. I started to tune out at this point as he yelled about us all being horrible people, and they turned to leave. It was definitely not their day as the door opened inward and smacked Kaoru square in the forehead due to the angle of his head at that moment. He yelled at the flustered guest that was frantically trying to apologize.

When they left they didn't even bother closing the door as they pushed the poor girl aside, and she started crying. Some of the girls went to the one standing at the door to comfort her as she silently cried.

I looked around the room. Many of the guests had witnessed the majority of the incident and were standing, looking just as shocked as I felt. Tamaki, Haruhi, and Honey-senpai all had tears flowing down their faces, unrestrained. Mori-senpai had remained seated, staring at the back of his cousin's blazer. Cakes, tea, and pieces of table lay amongst pieces of broken China and a few drops of Hikaru's blood. In short: it was an even bigger mess than when we had arrived, but I was too shocked to care at that moment.

I slowly made my way to the other side of the room and laid down on a large sofa so as to not be seen, and I draped an arm across my face after removing my glasses. I hadn't realized just how much I had come to care for the "little devil" twins. I wanted them to remain with the rest of us at the top of the cliff. I stayed there for a while, creating the analogy of what just happened, and what we could do, and where to go from there.

 _They lived their whole lives until middle school at the base of a large cliff. They played in the little rivers and climbed the trees. They liked it there. It was just them, and they liked it that way. Then one day it changed. Someone came to the bottom to help them climb to the top of the cliff, at first they were reluctant to go, but eventually they agreed to go. This new person knew how much they liked being at the bottom, but he also knew that being at the top is even better. He helped them climb to the top where others awaited with open arms. They loved being at the top, they loved feeling the cool breeze, seeing the view, but best of all was being around the people they met, but one day they were pushed close to the ledge by the very same someone who helped them reach the top. They nearly fell, but then the others that they met at the top pushed them over, and they fell. It was an accident, but they still fell. They returned to the bottom, broken and hurt. All of those at the top would want to help bring them back to the top, but they were comfortable at the bottom. It was familiar, safe, with no ledges to fall off of, and no one to push them. Regardless, the others at the top would try, and when they finally pulled them back up they would keep them far away from the ledge so as to not repeat the incident._

The twins had just fallen off the ledge, and convincing them to climb back up would be a challenge. They would no longer trust us as they did before. We are the ones that pushed them, even though it was truly an accident.

I replaced my glasses and stood, announcing to the ladies that the host club would be closed until further notice. They all, for once, nodded in agreement, and left the room, leaving the members of the club in the room.

When the last of the ladies had left and had closed the door we all took a seat around a nearby table, and sat silently for a long time before anyone finally spoke.

"I'm sorry, guys. This is all my fault. Had I just kept my mouth shut we wouldn't have this problem." Tamaki was the brave one to speak-up and break the silence.

"It's not just your fault, Senpai. We all made a mistake in this." Haruhi spoke up next. We all knew she was thinking about how she talked with Tamaki behind their backs.

"Yeah, Tama-chan. I know that Hika-chan threw the table at us, but I could have avoided hurting him. We all know I am capable of splitting a table in half, but I can also hit a table without breaking it, or I could throw it a different direction. That was poor thinking on my part, right, Takashi?" Honey-senpai spoke up, looking to his silent, stoic cousin who simply looked to his side to acknowledge that he heard his cousin and grunted.

"You may have started this, but we all helped push it along. I snapped at them at a time when I should have stayed quiet." I looked at Tamaki while I explained my part in this. We needed to move away from this subject, so I continued. "Let's move on, dwelling on 'whose fault it is' won't help us get the twins back. Everyone leave them alone for a while. They need time to think, to cool down, and to recuperate. This may forever leave a scar, but we can at least give them space so they can heal. Is everyone in agreement?"

I looked around to the others, and they all nodded in agreement. "Good… Let's all take a cool-down period of our own, and in one week we will meet here to discuss the next step, agreed?" I received more nods.

"Alright then. Let's clean up this mess, and I will see you all in a week." We cleaned up the mess from the broken table along with Hikaru's blood, and bits of table scattered throughout the room, and we left the room clean. We didn't know what to do with the broken table so we left it next to a garbage can in the corner of the room.

While we had been cleaning I had texted my driver, so he was waiting outside the school, attentive and ready to open the car door for me. The drive home seemed longer than usual due to my lack of patience. I just wanted to go to my room, finish homework that I had already mostly finished in class, prepare for Tamaki's phone-call that I received every night due to his confusion on the homework I had already completed, and just think. I enjoy thinking, exercising my brain.

Arriving home I went straight upstairs to my large, two-story bedroom. I quite liked my bedroom. As I entered I dropped my bag and made my way up the stairs to the second level, and to my bed. I had spent a lot of time thinking already, and I had homework to do, but my mind was racing too fast for me to possible think about anything other than a certain set of red-head twins. I decided to take a short nap to calm myself down, so I kicked my shoes off my feet and plopped down on the bed, curling up in the sheets, I fell asleep almost immediately.

I hadn't quite realized just how tired I was. Between the stress and not sleeping the night before I was completely exhausted, so I slept a lot longer than intended. I woke up three hours later, and I realized I had missed dinner. I knew I would hear about it from my father later due to the house rule that if we are home we must attend dinner. I would just come up with some lame excuse later when called to his office on the first floor. I wasn't hungry anyways, so I took a seat on the sofa on the first floor and finished up the little bit of homework I had left.

The second I put down my pen my phone rang. Looking at the caller I.D. I groaned slightly. It was the last person I wanted to talk to, but I answered anyways.

"What do you want, Tamaki?" I answered rudely, and as I predicted, he wanted help.

"Kyoya, I need help with the Math homework." He spoke quieter than usual. I could tell that he was upset, probably with himself more than anything else.

"Are you sure that's what you need help with? You are good at Math." I asked him only half paying attention to my own words.

"No…" He responded hesitantly.

"Then why did you call? What's the real reason for this?" I already knew the reason, I just wanted to hear it from him.

All I heard on the other end of the line was some rustling cueing me in that he was sitting on his own bed. He does his homework at his desk. He stayed silent for a few moments before answering.

"...Nevermind. Sorry to disturb you. I'll see you in class tomorrow." And he hung up the phone before I could even say anything.

I was indeed called to my father's office and I told him I wasn't feeling well, and I couldn't attend dinner because of it, so he sent me to my room to bed.

I laid down in the warm sheets and let a deep sleep take over my whole being, and didn't even dream that night.

Mori POV

Looking up, Hikaru and Kaoru where taking a seat across from Mitskuni and I at the table. It made sense that they would come to us, after all, we hadn't done anything yet to push them away.

The second Kaoru sat down his face paled, and he looked at his brother desperately, but Hikaru had his chin resting on his hand, his other hand picking at the wood grain in the table, watching his hands move over the smooth surface.

"I can't believe them…" Hikaru said quietly. Mitskuni looked at both of them, and I could tell he was trying to decide what to say to them. Eventually he decided.

"I don't think Tama-chan really meant what he said yesterday. He isn't exactly smart when it comes to criticism." I agreed with this and nodded slightly. "and Kyo-chan is just in a bad mood. He's been mean to everyone today. I think you two are over-reacting a bit, and I think you two should apologize. Everyone is in the wrong here. You could go foursies on this cake!" He held up the cake I knew he had been looking forward to eating, and I knew he meant well, but I could tell that the twins, especially Hikaru, did not appreciate it, so I stopped him before he could go on. I looked at Hikaru directly to get a point across to him, and spoke carefully, choosing my words with caution, knowing that if I said anything even a little wrong we would lose them both, possibly forever. "Mitskuni has a point, you two have slightly over-reacted, but so has Tamaki. I think it would be in everyone's best interest for someone in this room to be the better person and apologize. You are all in the wrong." Apparently I wasn't careful enough, because they both exploded, and perfectly synchronized.

"Over-reacted! No way!"

"He told Hikaru to pull his head out of his ass!" Kaoru piped up first.

" He called us lazy!" Hikaru came next.

"Haruhi took his side…"

"...and she probably didn't even know the whole story when she did!"

"Kyoya-senpai just told us it was our fault…"

"...that _we_ offended _him_."

"He's the one who offended _us_ …"

"...and you expect us to APOLOGIZE! None of this is our fault! We shouldn't have to ask forgiveness for something we didn't do!" As the two boys yelled at us, I suddenly felt slightly afraid of the younger boys, and I felt myself start to cower, along with Mitskuni. Everyone's eyes were on us, and guests were beginning to arrive, so I tried to reign in the conversation.

"I wasn't saying that it was your fault that any of this happened; I don't even know _what_ happened, but…"

"Hikaru interrupted me quickly, standing abruptly, tipping the chair over backwards. "Then why are you still talking?!"

"Because I know that…" I was interrupted once again, and starting to become very irritated.

"You just said you don't know!" Kaoru tipped his chair back in the same manner that his brother had only moments earlier, and he was leaning over the table slightly, just like his mirror image. I took this opportunity to convey my point.

"I don't know what happened, but I know what needs to be happen now. You are all acting like three-year-olds fighting over a stupid toy or something. Continuing this fight isn't going to do any of you any good." I think I spoke with more emotion than intended, because everyone was looking at me in shock, like they had no idea who I was, including Mitskuni.

The next thing I knew Hikaru had reached under the table and it was headed right for my head as the anger became too much and he exploded. I was too stunned to move, so I just sat there, waiting for the hard, heavy wood to hit me, but unlike me, Mitskuni was already in action, prepared to move as if he already knew what would happen. He hit the table, blocking its path through the air, and breaking it. It shattered down the middle and bits of table went flying everywhere. One piece buried itself deep in Hikaru's arm, making him cry out in pain.

Still astounded, I just sat there, watching the back of my cousin's uniform, while Kaoru wrapped his brother's arm and proceeded to yell at us. I didn't know what he was yelling about, nor did I care. I was still too in shock to pay attention, not even when he hit his head on the door, or when he yelled at a guest.

I stared at Mitskuni for a long time before looking around at the mess of cake, tea, china, broken table, and blood. Kyoya had disappeared to the other side of the room to think, and the other three members were crying.

That was that. We had lost them, and they weren't going to come back, and if they ever did it would be a long time after.

I didn't really pay much attention to anything else that happened after, barely even acknowledging when Mitskuni spoke to me, and taking note that we wouldn't be meeting for a week.

Throughout the night Mitskuni tried to start some small talk, but I never responded, so eventually he gave up, and we spent our night quietly, doing homework, eating, and finally, sleeping.

 **Here it is, guys. Sorry it took so long to finish and get up… anyways, I thought I should finally acknowledge my beta reader, ZareEraz. She has been reading my story and giving me new ideas since day one (she is my best friend after all…). Sorry for not acknowledging you sooner… well, that's that. I hope you enjoyed it! I'm at a pretty big writer's block at the moment so suggestions are more than welcome. Remember to review, and constructive criticism is also welcome. Thanks everyone!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks for waiting... I have had a huge writers block... anyways, here it is. Enjoy!**

Chapter 4

Kaoru POV

We weren't surprised when the next few days were very quiet around us. Everyone at school avoided us, and the servants at home could tell there was something wrong so they also kept a good distance between us. This was completely understandable as we had both exploded recently. We had one more day of school before we were finally free for the weekend. During the day we were completely ignored by almost everyone we knew, except for one foolish boy who hadn't heard the news and he tried to make conversation. The poor, innocent soul was shut-down almost immediately by my malicious brother and I.

Instead of going up to the third floor like normal, we were able to go straight home. For the first time in two years we had a day without the Host Club, and we planned to keep it that way. Our evening and whole weekend were spent playing video games and enjoying each other's presence without the interruptions of frivolous girls or any members of the Host Club.

The entire next week was spent in silence around us. Everyone had returned to treating us like we didn't exist, or as if we were some kind of plague. It didn't surprise us that it stayed that way for about a week, until Friday had come about again. We were sitting in a corner of the cafeteria eating lunch when suddenly Hikaru nudged my side with his elbow. I looked up from my food to see Kyoya-senpai standing in front of us, and my brother scowling at him. He didn't say anything, he just stood there looking like a dumbass for trying to confront us. Not that he looked funny, but he himself was a dumbass for attempting to even be anywhere near us.

"What do you want?" we responded to his presence in uniform malice. He just continued to stand there looking composed and expressionless. "Look, if you want something from us just say it."

He continued his long-held silence, confusing my brother and I more and more with each passing second. I broke our synchrony and looked around the cafeteria to find the other members of the club. They were sitting across the room trying to avoid looking our way, but once in awhile one of them would chance a glance in our direction.

I looked back at Kyoya-senpai, falling back into the comfort of synchronization with my brother just as he started speaking. "Have you calmed down yet?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the two of you. You have obviously been upset, and so have all of the rest of us, but I believe it would be best to let it go at this point. One week is long enough for this nonsense."

"Who are you anyways? Ootori-senpai, right?" We acted as if we had no idea who he was though we clearly knew better.

"Cut it out, this is ridiculous."

"Sorry, but we have no idea what you are talking about." Playing dumb was starting to work, because he was starting to look flustered.

"You two clearly know who I am so quit acting like you don't."

"Nope, sorry."

"Alright, that's enough messing around. Come back to the Host Club where you belong. We can't ever be the same without you two there."

"Leave us alone" We picked up our trays and walked away leaving him standing behind us in amazement for the second time within one week.

Walking through the halls later that day we ran into Haruhi on her way up the stairs to the third floor. When she turned the corner and saw us she stopped dead in her tracks, looking between the two of us two or three times before finally saying something. "Do you two really have to be like this? It's not that big of a deal, after all." She kept looking at us back and forth. It appeared as if she were confused about something, then it dawned on the both of us.

"You can't tell us apart any more, can you?" We responded to her in perfect unison with the same evil smirk on both of our faces, realizing just how confused she actually was.

"..." She was silent, staring at us, not quite sure what to think. Her silence was proof enough that she really couldn't tell us apart any more. The one person in this world that was able to tell us apart no longer could, and though neither of us would admit it until much later, it made us both very upset to see it.

"So, you aren't really our friend…" Hikaru said quietly next to me.

"Because real friends can tell us apart." I finished in the same voice.

Haruhi stared at us, more confused than ever before. It was apparent at this point that we had lost our individuality that we had worked to develop over the previous two years. So much so that not even Haruhi could tell us apart any more. She was the one person who was always able to tell the difference every time without fail, until now. Just as we had done to Kyoya, we left her standing in the middle of the hallway amazed, speechless, and obviously distressed over it.

We left the school and spent our weekend in the same way we had the previous weekend: alone. Upon returning to school the next week we found that everyone pretended we didn't exist. There wasn't a single person who even acted like they were avoiding us, just plain ignoring us. Deep down it hurt, but we didn't care. We thought that if we kept moving forward everything would go back to the way it was before all of this: the fighting, the Host Club, friends, and trying to be a part of the crowd. We thought that we would just get over it.

This went on for a few more weeks, and we were just starting to get used to the fact that we didn't exist any more when another attempt was made at bringing us back. After school one day we were stopped by the entirety of the Host Club in front of the school.

Kyoya POV

The next week was relaxing, but not relaxing at the same time. I didn't have to worry about the Host Club, but at the same time I was so worried about those idiotic twins that I could hardly think about anything else when I wasn't focused on school assignments.

The break from the club didn't last long enough. Before I knew it a week had passed and I was sitting with the Host Club once again at the same table in Music Room 3. I started us off once everyone was there. "Welcome back. I hope this last week gave everyone a chance to think and recuperate from last week. Does anyone have any ideas on how to bring back the twins?"

Only silent, confused faces responded. I decided to start the ball rolling with my own ideas. "Perhaps one of us should try talking to them. What do you say?" Almost immediately Haruhi responded in a way I would never expect to hear from her: with a lot of sass.

"Oh, yeah, let's piss them off. That's a great idea!"

"Then what would you suggest Haruhi?" I asked her with a look of sheer curiosity on my face. She glared back, which was also something I never thought I would see from Haruhi. "If you don't have any other, better ideas then I suggest you let me continue." I paused for a moment to see her reaction. She sat back in her seat and gestured for me to continue, so I did. "I'm not saying we should talk to them right away. I'm thinking that one of us could just walk up to them and not say anything at all. This would give them the opportunity to have the first word and they can decide how the conversation will move rather than directing it ourselves."

"I don't think that sound too bad" Honey-senpai was the first to agree with me before anyone else. "Right, Takashi?"

"Yeah." Mori-senpai responded with his usual quiet yet firm answer.

"Yeah, it's not a bad plan, but who is going to have the nerve to walk up to them and just stand there looking like an idiot?" Tamaki made a good point. No one in this group would be brave enough to face the malicious red-heads. That meant that they would probably put it on my head. I guessed right. They all looked at me expectantly.

"Alright, I'll do it, but you all owe me." I finished and we all went our separate ways for the night.

The next day we all went to the cafeteria for lunch and I looked around for the twins. I found them sitting across the room eating their food in silence much like they used to before they joined the Host Club. I didn't waste any time before informing the rest of the group that I was going over there, and I started walking across the seemingly huge cafeteria.

When I finally reached their table they were both looking down at their food, and one of them looked up at me. I didn't know which one was which, but whoever looked up at me nudged the other one, and his head snapped up away from his food to look at me as well. Their uniformity was better and more synchronized than ever before when they both spoke. "What do you want?"

I simply continued to stand there silently to assess the situation better before speaking. I probably looked something like a fool for walking up to them and trying to confront them, and then standing silently, watching them. "Look, if you want something from us just say it."

I watched as one of the twins broke the synchrony to look around the cafeteria. Once he found the rest of our group his eyes snapped back to focus on me. I decided to finally say something to them "Have you calmed down yet?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" their voices were so uniform it was almost as if I was only talking to one person.

"I'm talking about the two of you. You have obviously been upset, and so have all of the rest of us, but I believe it would be best to let it go at this point. One week is long enough for this nonsense." I was quite frank with them, and almost harsh.

"Who are you anyways? Ootori-senpai, right?"

"Cut it out, this is ridiculous."

"Sorry, but we have no idea what you are talking about." They were playing dumb, and it was starting to make me mad. I started to become flustered, though I refused to let it show on my face, or so I thought.

"You two clearly know who I am so quit acting like you don't."

"Nope, sorry."

"Alright, that's enough messing around. Come back to the Host Club where you belong. We can't ever be the same without you two there."

They ended our short conversation by picking up their trays and walking away saying "Leave us alone."

I stood there in amazement, just trying to comprehend what had happened. It was almost as if they truly had no clue who I was. It was like they had gone back in time, and they had erased the entire past two years. It stumped me, so I went back to our table across the room.

As I approached the table I told everyone to meet in the club room after school, and I picked up my things and left.

Once classes were over for the day I went straight to the third floor to await the rest of the club. When they all finally got there Haruhi was in a bad mood, and everyone else just looked depressed. The room was silent until Mori-senpai spoke up.

"What happened, Haruhi? You are acting strange."

"Yeah, Haru-chan, what's the matter?" Honey-senpai asked with an innocent look on his face. Haruhi looked around the table at each of us, and she explained how she couldn't tell the twins apart any more. She told us that they had said that a true friend would be able to tell them apart. She looked like she was very upset about the whole situation, so I decided to make an executive decision.

"Alright, here's the deal. Let's open the Host Club again and we will keep thinking, but I think if we were to re-open it would bring up all of our spirits. It might also bring on some ideas for how to help Hikaru and Kaoru. We can give them some more space for a while, and it will give all of us a good chance to calm down. Agreed?" Everyone nodded in agreement, so upon returning from the weekend we announced that the Host Club was once again open for business. This was when Tamaki came to me with a brilliant idea.

"Why don't we get the whole school to completely ignore them? Not just avoid them, but ignore them all together as if they just don't exist. They don't have to ever know that we were behind it. We can just start with the ladies here in the Host Club, and they can spread the word to not acknowledge their very existence in this world. It might strike them how much they miss being around people if we do."

I stared at Tamaki in shock. I was amazed that he could come up with something so smart, and so stupid it might actually work. I agreed, and we started to spread the word. We let it go on for a few weeks, and we watched from a distance. At first they looked confused, but it looked like they were starting to get used to it. They didn't seem to care if anyone acknowledged their existence, so eventually I called our group back together one day after the Host Club activities. It was a good thing because Honey-senpai had a brilliant idea. We all agreed with it and the next day we left our classes early to meet the little devils just outside the front door of the school where they would be picked up. When they walked outside we were all there to meet them.

Mori POV

The next few weeks were attention grabbing. Hikaru and Kaoru were growing farther and farther away from us by the minute, Kyoya was more caring than we had ever seen him, Mitskuni was less energetic than ever before, Tamaki was quiet, and Haruhi was the most noticeable as she was in a chronic bad mood. She kept snapping at people and glaring. After a couple of weeks of sitting back quietly and watching things play out I decided to point out her I'm-out-of-character-bad-mood smirk she had on her face. We had just witnessed the twins turn down Kyoya that day, and Haruhi had seemed fine at lunch, but now she was sitting across the table from me glaring at the grain in the wood in front of her. Before I knew it I was speaking. "What happened, Haruhi? You are acting strange."

"Yeah, Haru-chan, What's the matter?" Mitskuni always had my back. He probably didn't notice her bad mood until I pointed it out, but I was grateful for his input regardless. Her head snapped up and she kept trying to play it off like nothing was wrong, but eventually she gave in and she told us everything. She told us about how she was turned down by the twins and how she noticed that they had completely lost their individuality and that she couldn't tell them apart anymore. I could tell that it really upset her, and she knew that it upset them. She said she could tell by the tone of their voice.

It was actually really painful to watch them grow more distant as we started to ignore them. We watched them for a couple of weeks before we realized that they were just growing accustomed to being ignored, so Kyoya finally called us back together. Mitskuni hadn't told me, but he had an idea, and when he told us his idea we were all very impressed, so we decided to go with it. The next day when the twins left the school we were outside waiting for them.

 **There you have it, sorry it was so short. I promise the next one will be longer and have more exciting things in it. This was just a filler chapter. Until next time! Remember to favorite, follow, and review!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Kaoru POV

I couldn't believe my eyes. Standing in front of us as we left the building was the entire Host Club, and I could tell they were again attempting to "bring us back". My brother and I just stood there speechless, and I'm sure we both had the same look on our faces of sheer astonishment. After so many weeks of being completely ignored we figured it was over and that they had given up. I should have expected another attempt due to the fact that they didn't try very hard in the first place, but I was naive and I didn't.

We eyed them in sync from left to right, daring even one of them to speak up and start the conversation. I knew they would all have a part to say or do in this, but only one of them would be brave enough to start the ball rolling. Of course it was none other than our dear senpai, Kyoya Ootori.

"Please, come back to the host club. Haven't you two had enough of being alone. I know you can't possibly enjoy being in solitude after how much time you have spent with other people, laughing and enjoying life to the fullest. How can you possibly be happy, or even okay with your lives right now?" He seemed sincere, and he truly seemed like he wanted the best for us, which was rare for Kyoya-senpai, which was why we weren't buying it. Kyoya-senpai only does things for his own gain, and he's really good at manipulating people to think what he wants them to think.

Haruhi, on the other hand, is always sincere. "I believe what Kyoya-senpai said is true: you can't possibly be happy like this."

"Yeah Hika-chan, Kao-chan, don't you feel lonely?" Honey-senpai piped up from atop Mori-senpai's shoulders, and Mori-senpai nodded below him.

Tamaki-senpai stood silently for the moment.

Hikaru spoke "Kyoya-senpai can't possibly mean it though. He only does things for his own gain. So, what are you gaining this time? What could you possibly gain from us coming back to your pathetic, little club?"

Everyone's heads turned to Kyoya-senpai, and I could tell his thoughts were racing. In the end he just answered rather simply, pointing to Tamaki-senpai, "I want you back in the club so that he can stop whining to me about how it's all his fault and how much he misses you. That's it. Nothing else. No monetary gain other than that."

"That seems reasonable though," Tamaki-senpai finally spoke up, "I'm sure I can probably get pretty annoying, and it's true that I never let things go. I don't think before I speak, and I know it can push people over the edge. I'm sorry I said what I said. You two work just as hard or harder than anybody else in this club, and I was wrong to say or think otherwise. Can you find it in you to forgive my idiotic, clumsy self?"

"We will have to think about that." we finished this conversation the way we started it: together, walking to the awaiting limousine.

As we arrived home we decided to skip dinner and just go straight to our shared bedroom. We sat on the bed quietly for some time, just thinking to ourselves. After a long moment of silence I decided to ask, "What do you think we should do?"

Hikaru looked at me from the corner of his eye before laying back on the bed with his arms behind his head, looking up at the ceiling. "I don't know, Kao. They seemed sincere enough, and I don't really blame Kyoya-senpai for wanting to stop Tamaki-senpai's complaining."

"Yeah, that's true, and Tamaki-senpai really did seem sorry for saying what he did. Maybe we could give them one more chance…"

"Okay, I agree. One, last chance, but if they screw it up this time that's it, we're through. No more friends. Agreed?"

"Yeah, agreed."

With that decided we finished up our night with homework, and slept peacefully. The next day we went to class and approached our cross-dressing friend, Haruhi, before class started.

"So…" Hikaru spoke first.

"Would you.." I was next.

"...Like to sit with us today?" we finished in unison, both of our right hands on the backs of our heads in embarrassment, and fear.

Haruhi looked up at us in complete shock, and then did something neither of us would expect from her: she squealed in excitement and jumped up to give us both a tight hug. "You're coming back?!"

"Yeah, for now." Hikaru spoke for both of us. "but if something like that ever happens again we'll be gone for good, got it?"

"I figured, but I don't think it will. Yay! I'm so excited! Sit down, class is about to start." So we took our seats for the day and went through our classes like normal, and after class Haruhi turned to us and said, "you're coming to the Host Club right?"

"Yeah, but you go on ahead, and we will meet you there. Don't tell anyone when you get there either, we want it to be a surprise." After I said that and Haruhi left I turned around to see Hikaru's surprised face. "What?"

"A surprise? really?"

"Well, why not?"

"I don't know, it just seems a little strange to be surprising them when we have been gone for so long, but it's fine."

"Alright, we should go."

We made our way up to the third floor music room and just like the first time we ever walked into that room we opened the doors together. When the door opened and we could see what was going on inside we found Kyoya-senpai facing away from us directly in front of us. He spoke expecting it to be ladies coming early and thinking to tell them to come back later, but he didn't quite get that far. "I'm sorry, we're not quite open yet, you'll have to come back…" He turned around as he spoke, and finished after a small pause. "...la…ter."

Everyone had a look of astonishment on their faces, except Haruhi, of course. It was so quiet in the room you could hear a pin drop. We spoke in unison. "Hey…"

Kyoya POV

They walked out the door and stopped dead in their tracks, stunned to see all of us standing there. After a moment of being surprised, probably because they thought we would just give up at this point, they regained their composure and glared at us, their eyes moving between us in perfect unison. My mind wandered for a split second and I wondered how they could do it without even trying, but my thought didn't wander for long, for I was the one who had to lead this conversation, and the red-heads were daring me to, and I would never pass up a chance at a dare. "Please, come back to the host club. Haven't you two had enough of being alone. I know you can't possibly enjoy being in solitude after how much time you have spent with other people, laughing and enjoying life to the fullest. How can you possibly be happy, or even okay with your lives right now?" I felt surprisingly sincere in my statement, and I knew that I actually cared for those boys, though until this moment I didn't know just how much.

Haruhi spoke up after I did and she was truly sincere. "I believe what Kyoya-senpai said is true: you can't possibly be happy like this." She could be seen on my right out of the corner of my eye and she looked like she did truly care about those two and wanted them to be happy.

"Yeah Hika-chan, Kao-chan, don't you feel lonely?" Honey-senpai, for whatever reason, was on the brink of tears, most-likely because he didn't want anyone to ever feel as lonely as he used to feel before he became a part of the Host Club. He was always alone, and he always felt lonely. Mori-senpai held his cousin on his shoulders high up in the air and nodded and the end of his shorter cousin's question to the twins.

I eyed Tamaki to see if he would say anything, but he just stood off to my left with a blank look on his face, staring at the ground in complete silence.

"Kyoya-senpai can't possibly mean it though. He only does things for his own gain. So, what are you gaining this time? What could you possibly gain from us coming back to your pathetic, little club?" Hikaru asked me maliciously, and I knew I had to give him a straight, true answer that would make him feel like he was right, so I answered with a truth, but maybe not exactly the full-fledged reason why I would want them back.

My thoughts raced through my head before I finally answered, pointing at the dumbass that I like to call my best friend. "I want you back in the club so that he can stop whining to me about how it's all his fault and how much he misses you. That's it. Nothing else. No monetary gain other than that." It was true, I was sick of Tamaki calling me every night, complaining about how it was all his fault and that we had to come up with a plan to get the twins to come back to the host club. It was really starting to irritate me.

"That seems reasonable though," Tamaki finally made his presence known with his voice, and answered, "I'm sure I can probably get pretty annoying, and it's true that I never let things go. I don't think before I speak, and I know it can push people over the edge. I'm sorry I said what I said. You two work just as hard or harder than anybody else in this club, and I was wrong to say or think otherwise. Can you find it in you to forgive my idiotic, clumsy self?"

"We will have to think about that." they finished in unison, walking to the car behind us, pushing Haruhi aside on the way.

"Well, that didn't go quite as I envisioned it going, but I feel like we have made a little progress." I tried to make this a positive thing, but Haruhi wasn't buying it.

"What are you talking about? Progress? How is that Progress?" She seemed angry that I even said such a ridiculous thing.

"Yeah, Kyo-chan, how is that progress?" Honey-senpai was more curious than anything as he asked the same question as Haruhi had only seconds earlier.

"I'm just glad they didn't tell us to leave them alone again. They at least said they will think about it. Now whether or not they actually will is a whole different matter, but at least they said it." I tried to explain how this encounter was a positive thing, but it didn't look like they were going to buy it. "Well, whether you believe me or not, we should go home and get some rest. I will see all of you tomorrow afternoon on the third floor."

I went home that night and rested well, Tamaki didn't call or even text. I assumed he was asleep, and I didn't have any homework, because I had finished it in class. I went to bed early, and slept a long, deep, peaceful sleep.

The next morning I woke well-rested and ready for the day. I went to class and found that Tamaki had gotten there before me. He looked like hell. He had dark bags under his eyes and his hair, for once, was a bit of a mess. It was odd to see him like this. He was always the one to dress to the nines no matter the situation or the occasion.

Before class started, because I was worried about him, I took him into the hallway and asked him "How long has it been since you have had any sleep?"

"What are you talking about?" He looked at me with sleepy eyes.

"I'm talking about the dark bags under your eyes and your messy hair. Tamaki, you look like hell."

"Umm… well… I think it's been a week… maybe longer… I've tried to sleep, really I have, but it's just so… so… not possible. I lay awake all night. I can usually get an hour or two, but…"

"Tamaki, how is it that this is the first time I have noticed the bags under your eyes?"

"Well… makeup such as foundation and cover-up work really well…"  
"You have been wearing MAKEUP?!" If I wasn't already concerned I was now. Tamaki, of all people, wearing makeup to hide his face.

"Umm… yeah… I guess I have." He let his head hang a little, showing just how tired he actually was.

I made him sit down it the hallway, and I went back into the classroom to let the teacher know that he wasn't feeling well, and that I was going to take him to the school infirmary. I told her I would be back when he was settled there. She gave me permission, and I went back out into the hallway to find Tamaki sleeping on the floor, sitting upright with his head back against the wall. I sighed and went to wake him up and I put an arm around my shoulder to half carry him down to the infirmary.

When we got to the infirmary a nurse ran over to us, and she asked me what happened. I told her that Tamaki hadn't slept in more than a week, and that he just really needed to lay down and get some sleep. She took his name, gave him a light sedative that would probably knock him out for a good 6-8 hours, long enough that he wouldn't be going back to class today, and he would probably miss the first part of the Host Club if he slept long enough, but if he did I would be okay with it, because he needed the sleep.

I made my way back up to class and took notes enough for the both of us, and by the end of the school hours I was a little tired from trying to keep up enough for two people. When the bell rang and class was dismissed I made my way up to the third floor where Tamaki was already sitting on the couch in front of the main doors to Music Room 3. He looked better. His hair was still a bit of a mess, but at least the bags under his eyes wouldn't be noticeable to anyone who didn't already know they were there.

"Are you alright, Tamaki? Did you get enough sleep?" I asked sincerely, knowing that he needed it.

"I'm alright. I got enough sleep to get through the afternoon. Hopefully I can go home and sleep a lot tonight."

"Yeah, I hope you can too."

Just then the doors opened and the other three current members of the Host Club walked through the doors. Haruhi seemed to be in a good mood for who-knows-what reason and Honey and Mori-senpai seemed to be in a very neutral mood, but then again Mori-senpai was always neutral.

We all set to work, cleaning and preparing tables for our guests. I was in the midst of cleaning and setting a table when I heard the door open behind me. I started telling whoever it was that we weren't open yet, and that they would have to come back in a little while, but I cut off towards the end of my sentence as I turned around, and I said the last word ever so slowly as two red-headed twins stood in front of me in the open doorway. The room was dead silent, not one sound could be heard, and they spoke in unison, one, single, solitary word "Hey…"

Mori POV

I had Mitskuni on my shoulders above me, and the twins walked through the big front door of Ouran High School. They looked one-hundred percent surprised at our presence in front of them. As the confrontation started I just listened, only nodding when Mitskuni said his piece, and taking note that as they left, and as Kyoya pointed out later, that they said they would think about it. This was different than when we had confronted them before and they basically told us to go screw ourselves. I had this feeling that they would think about it, and that they would give it another try. I didn't know why I felt that way. The twins were always stubborn and hard headed. It was hard to change their minds about anything.

At this point our parents had returned from teaching in America and we were both in our own houses. My parents were still very into talking about their trip, so my brother and I sat silently and listened to them for a few hours before finally making our way to our rooms to go to bed. I slept well for the first part of the night, but it ended up being a more restless sleep by the end, so when I woke up I was more or less rested, but found no reason to be worried about being tired.

Mitskuni's car picked me up and we were at school earlier than we usually were, but on our way to class we saw Tamaki. He was walking down the hall, almost like a zombie, and he turned down a hallway and out of sight before we could question him.

Classes went as normal, and after we went up to the third floor to get ready for the afternoon entertaining the ladies. We ran into Haruhi on our way up, and she seemed like she was in a really good mood. I knew it was because of the twins, but I stayed silent just in case.

When we walked in the door Kyoya was talking to Tamaki, and I could tell that Tamaki looked a little better than before. Kyoya had us all start cleaning and preparing, and just as we were finishing up the door opened, and mine and Mitskuni's heads snapped up as Kyoya was telling them to come back when we opened, and we saw in front of the doorway, two red-headed, mischievous twins. The room was silent with surprise, except Haruhi, who had a sheer look of joy on her face. The twins said one simple word. "Hey…"


	6. Chapter 6

**Make sure you read the Author's note at the bottom!**

Chapter 6

Kaoru POV

"Hey…" We stood in front of the others as they looked at us in shock. The only one who wasn't was, of course, Haruhi. They all stared at us for a moment before they all came running as if to tackle us, except for Kyoya-senpai. Even Mori-senpai was coming our way. Many of them were all yelling something exciting.

Honey-senpai was so excited I don't think he was even coherent, Tamaki was crying and yelling about how happy he was that we had decided to forgive him, Haruhi was beaming and running towards us as fast as she could. Kyoya-senpai had a look of pure astonishment on his face, and no one ever knows what Mori-senpai is thinking.

Just before they got to us most of them stopped just short of actually tackling us. The only one who did was Honey-senpai. He came flying at us and jumped right between us and took us both into a tight embrace. "Yay! Hika-chan and Kao-chan are back!"

Mori-senpai stood towards the back of the group, but made his way forward to pry his cousin off of us. "don't overwhelm them, Mitskuni"

Hikaru and I took a deep breath once we were free of our senpai, and we addressed the rest of them. "Thanks for the 'welcome back'." I turned to look at Haruhi's beaming, excited face, and I smiled back at her.

Tamaki came forward and started in on how happy he was that we had decided to forgive him. This was when we turned around in unison, and we gave Tamaki-senpai a look that probably looked like death. His entire being turned grey, and he started fading away a bit. "You do forgive me, right?"

"We haven't quite decided that just yet. You have to prove yourself." I told him frankly.

"We aren't her for you at all." Hikaru continued for me.

"We are here for them." We finished together and pointed to the rest of the group. As I looked around at them I realized that Kyoya was still in the same place he was when we walked in, but we would deal with him after we had made our point clear to Tamaki-senpai.

"So you don't forgive me?" Tamaki-senpai looked like he would blow away.

"It's like we said…" I started

"...Not until you have proven yourself to be a good friend." Hikaru finished.

"Oh… Ok…" After that he was silent.

"Kyoya-senpai?" I turned around and addressed our silent senpai. His head snapped up as if he had just been pulled from a trance. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm just a little taken aback by your arrival this afternoon. I expected your return eventually, but I did not expect it to be today." He answered us with a loud, clear voice.

"Why not?" Haruhi took the words right out of my mouth. Nothing ever surprised our know-all senpai.

"I expected that they would take more time to think it over, but it seems as if I have been caught off guard, and for once I am taken by surprise." He then walked over to us and put a hand on each of our shoulders. "I am glad you're back."

With that we all went back to work, and before long the ladies were filing in as usual. When they would see us they would immediately try to request us, and before long we had enough customers to last us for weeks, and that is what happened. For the next two weeks we entertained a slew of ladies, including regulars that belonged to other members of the Host Club. No one seemed to mind too much though due to the fact that they were just happy to see us back in action.

Tamaki-senpai continually tried to prove that he was worthy of our forgiveness. He tried everything. He tried everything from treating us like he normally would, to ignoring us, to clinging to our side as much as he could, but that wasn't what we were looking for. We just wanted him to do something he normally wouldn't. We wanted him to be a true friend, and the best way to prove that is to, unlikely, tell us apart like Haruhi could. We knew that wasn't going to happen, so we hoped for the next best thing: appreciation. His thing with not appreciating us and our hard work was what got us into that mess in the first place.

My mind was racing, and we were supposed to be helping guests when I felt a familiar nudge in my side. "Hey, Kaoru. You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just thinking." I looked up into my brother's warm, molten orbs.

"What were you thinking about this time Kaoru? I hope you were thinking about me." As he said this he ran a single finger up my jaw to the tip of my chin.

"Of course, Hikaru. What else could I possibly be thinking about?"

"You're so cute when you daydream, you know that?"

"Don't say things like that in front of the ladies, Hikaru. You're embarrassing me…"

"Oh, Kaoru. Don't think about them, just focus on me from now on, okay?"

"Yes… Hikaru…"

At that moment we heard Kyoya call out the end of the club hours, and we started in on chores once the ladies had all left the room.

Tamaki-senpai appeared at my side, and looked at me with a concerned expression. "Are you all right, Kaoru? You seem distracted today."

"Being nice to me about it today, or are you going to call us lazy again?" Hikaru cut in harshly.

"You know that's not how I meant it. I don't understand how you could take it so wrong." Tamaki-senpai looked sincere, but nevertheless, I could feel the tensions rising high. It scared me, because the last time tensions rose like this we didn't speak to anyone in the entire school for over a month. I became scared that the same thing would happen, so I turned to Hikaru to pull him away, no matter how he protested.

At the same time Kyoya-senpai came over, and he told Tamaki-senpai to just leave us be, and that we didn't need his input. I was grateful for his interference in the situation.

In this moment I began to wonder if we would ever get along with Tamaki-senpai again, and if we would ever be a stable, permanent fixture in the life of social norms, but only time would tell.

Kyoya POV

"Hey…" I stood by the table I had been cleaning in complete shock. I had expected their return eventually, but not for another couple of days, at least. I stood there for a long time and let my mind race while everyone else celebrated their return, except for Tamaki, who was shut down pretty quickly.

I thought about the last weeks, and how they had so forcefully refused to come back and once again be a part of the group. They had humiliated me in the cafeteria when they pretended they didn't know me. They proved to be unfazed by being completely ignored by the entire school. They didn't even care. The two red-headed, idiotic, crazy, over-sensitive, devil twins standing in front of me were actually there, even after they had pushed us aside yesterday, and ignored us for almost a whole month before that moment.

I suddenly found myself angry. I was angry at them, at Tamaki, at the other members of the Host club, and at myself. I was mad at the twins for ignoring us and taking Tamaki the wrong way in the first place. I was mad at Tamaki for being so naive as to say something so stupid to the twins that anybody would have known that it would push them away. I was angry with the other members of the club for not knowing what to do, and for reacting badly to the situation. But I was mostly angry with myself for many things. I hated that I had also reacted badly, and that I said things that I knew I shouldn't have said. I was angry with myself for not seeing the end result before anybody else did. I hated myself in that moment, because I was just like everyone else.

My anger didn't last long, because I realized that this was a good thing in the end. I finally understood why this had all happened, and it was all for the twins. They will come out stronger than ever before. They will know when to walk away, and when to call it quits.

It wasn't all for the twins though. Everyone would come out of this stronger than before. We all had a lesson to learn in this, and I learned mine. I learned that day that not every situation can be controlled and manipulated the way I want it to. I can't always control what happens, when it happens, or even how it happens. Life will happen the way it wants to.

Just as I came to my conclusion I was pulled from my mental roller coaster by Kaoru calling my name. "Kyoya-senpai, are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm just a little taken aback by your arrival this afternoon. I expected your return eventually, but I did not expect it to be today." I answered his question honestly, because I was still so lost in my own head that I didn't have time to think of a better answer than that.

"Why not?" Haruhi looked at me curiously and sincerely.

"I expected that they would take more time to think it over, but it seems as if I have been caught off guard, and for once I am taken by surprise. I am glad you're back." Having said my peace I set everyone to work.

The twins were very busy for the next couple of weeks, which was a good thing for them, and it kept Tamaki away from them a bit. He seemed to want to crowd them the whole time, because he just wanted them to forgive him. They didn't seem to want him to do any of the things he was trying though.

Eventually after a few weeks there came a day just like that day, and Kaoru was distracted once again. No one ever knew why Kaoru was ever distracted or what distracted him, just that he was once in awhile. After hours had ended Tamaki decided to approach them. I went over towards the threesome. On my way I couldn't hear the conversation, but based on facial expressions I knew it wasn't good. Kaoru was just turning away, pulling his brother with him, when I approached them. I pulled on Tamaki's arm, and I knew the twins just wanted their space for awhile. "Leave them be, Tamaki. They don't need your input on this. Let them handle themselves.'"

He turned to me and nodded in agreement. This moment proved to me one more fact: nothing is ever secure. At any moment something could be said or done and it would push a button that would make things fall apart once again. At any moment any one of us could be lost over the edge of oblivion. Nothing is stable, nothing is sure. The future could only be told by one thing: time.

Mori POV

"Hey…" There they were. They were actually there, as I had predicted. They were standing in front of us. They came back. We all stood there in shock for a long moment before everyone went running before me, and before I could stop myself I found myself headed that direction as well.

I was rather impressed with myself for predicting their return today. I knew they were coming back because Haruhi had been in such a good mood, but then again that could have been caused by just about anything. Haruhi is a naturally good tempered person.

I didn't hear much of the conversation because I was worried about my cousin, who had latched himself to both twins. Kaoru looked to me as if to say "save me". I answered his plea. I walked through the others to pry his arms off of the red-headed devils.

They seemed happy to be back, but they weren't exactly pleased with Tamaki. I didn't think they ever would be again. It was a good moment of our lives, but throughout the whole thing I noticed out of the corner of my eye, and I continued to watch as Kyoya stood away from the group, eyes glazed, looking dumbfounded. It's not very often that you can amaze Kyoya, so it was interesting to watch it happen in front of me. I had only ever seen him like that one other time, and that was when the twins pretended not to know him only a few weeks earlier, but that only lasted for a few seconds before he snapped out of it. This time he stared at nothing, thinking, meditating for a long time. I watched as emotions passed over his face: amazement, to anger, to understanding, and finally to contentment.

I wanted to continue watching his reactions, but he was pulled from his trance by Kaoru, and I lost interest in it. He was back to normal.

We spent the next few minutes cleaning and preparing for the ladies that would be coming in no time at all. That day all went smoothly, and things continued to run smoothly for the next few weeks. I watched from a distance as Tamaki continued to try to win back the twins' confidence, but it was all in vain. They basically ignored him.

It wasn't until a few weeks after their return that it finally started to unfold once again. It was a normal day in the Host Club, and as usual the twins were pulling their act. The only difference was that it was half-hearted. Kaoru, once again, was distracted and in a daze. His brother was constantly pulling him from his trance, and they jumped immediately into a brotherly love, mushy, gushy act. The amazing part about it was that the act was slightly different every time. They always impressed me in this way.

I was watching them when Mitskuni tugged on my sleeve and pulled me back to him and our guests. He was on the verge of tears "Are you gonna leave me, Takashi? Do you love the twins now more than me? Please don't leave me Takashi."

I placed my hand on his head, and that was enough to calm him down. I knew it was all an act from him as well. He knew I would never actually leave him. He also knew I had been interested in the whole situation with the twins, but it was a good way to get the ladies' attention, and it pulled me back into reality.

Not long after I looked over to the twins and Tamaki was walking towards them, and my attention was again pulled towards the other side of the room, and Mitskuni's attention went with it. I couldn't hear what was being said, but I knew it was a situation full of tension. Kyoya and Tamaki went one way, and the twins went another way. It kept a problem from happening for now, but who knows how long it will last. Only time will tell.

 **Alright, guys! That's it for this story! I had a lot of fun with it, and I hope you all enjoyed it too. Thanks for all of the support from my readers, and I also want to thank ZareEraz for being the best Beta Reader in the world, and thanks for giving me so many ideas when I had none! Thanks Again everyone! I'm thinking about doing a sequel to this story, so if you want one review and let me know. I would love to do one, but that will be totally based on my readers, and what you guys want from it. Thanks again!**

 **HeartQueenVivaldi**


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